The Beginning….But Not The End

First Class:

Facebook: Vague

Twitter: Nope

WordPress: Huh?

Google Docs: Never

Klout: Sorry, I only speak English

This was the depth of my knowledge as I walked into our first Social Media and Research Techniques class. Since then I am glad to say that much has changed. I am now comfortable using these networks to my advantage. I use these sites for research, to share information, to attract an audience, to gain feedback and to market myself. I can now easily navigate these sites and have learned to connect these networks with one another in order to use them effectively. I have learned to connect myself with professionals using networks like LinkedIn and I’ve learned that sometimes; simple is better. Although it would be difficult to list everything learned over the last 3 months into a 500 word blog here or some of the more important things I have taken away from this course.

1. The Basics: Not knowing anything about social media made learning the basics a treat. You need to crawl before you walk, so I’ve listed the basic’s as something of importance. I am now very familiar with networks such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google Docs, Klout, WordPress and more. I learned how to post content, upload videos, write blogs, and more importantly how to connect these networks with one another in order to reach a larger audience.

2. Speak Their Language: How you say something is just as important as what you’re saying. Know your audience and speak their language. You won’t be able to attract a teenager the same way you would attract an adult. They will have different interests. Different opinions and views. Different Likes. Different dislikes. They will also have different influencers in their circle. Reach out to these influencers and use them to your advantage. They will play a large role when attempting to reach a target audience. But remember; always be honest, and genuine when doing so. Credibility can be everything.

3. Personal Accountability: Social media has now been around for some time but people still don’t seem to get it. Information you post is public. Be cautious. Be accountable. Be professional. Time and time again employees have been let go do to mishaps on social media networks. Athletes and celebrities have created P.R. nightmares for themselves, and even politicians have been shown in bad light do to poor choices. Social media is a double edge sword. You can send out a positive message to a huge audience of people but if you lack the proper judgement before posting you may find yourself in hot water.

So Now What?….

I’m still no expert when it comes to social media and I still have much to learn. Continued use of different social networks will allow me to grow and develop as a user. I am excited to use what I have learned in class both professionally and personally. Whether it be continuing a personal blog or representing a company online I know these skills can only enhance my future success.

I’d like to take a minute to thank Jared and the rest of the class for changing my views on social networks, and for developing me into a more well-rounded professional. It’s been a pleasure and I wish everyone the best in their future pursuits.

“As I have repeatedly written in one form or other, blogging is not about writing posts. Heck, that’s the least of your challenges. No, blogging is about cultivating a mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership, and that’s hard work.” – Alister Cameron

Research on the Hamilton Tiger Cats hasn’t been as easy as I thought. I wasn’t able to find as much information online as I would have hoped too. To improvise I analyzed their Facebook and Twitter accounts and put together a few educated assumptions on my own.

Goal Re-Cap

I want to take a quick second and re-cap the Hamilton Tiger Cats overall goals. Please remember all three of these posts are being written by a student for a social media & research techniques course. Some of the information has been based on educated guesses, assumptions and opinions.

1.Increase Game Attendance (Ticket Sales)

2. Increase television ratings

3. Build Community Engagement

Communication Objectives

These are some specific communication objectives the Hamilton Tiger Cats seemed to have set for themselves when using social media. These objectives assist with the organizations’ over all goals and they strengthen the organizations’ online presence as well.

1. Increase the number of Facebook and Twitter Followers…

Attracting followers! This seems like a practical objective when using social media towards you overall goals right? I thought so….and I believe the Tiger Cats do too. Lucky for me they have plenty of contests and promotions that suggest this same thing on their Facebook page…

“We’re giving away two season seats for the Final Season at Ivor Wynne Stadium presented by Tim Horton to one lucky Facebook fan!”

“..we’re giving away two season seats to a lucky Facebook fan once we hit 29,600 likes!”

2. Encourage online participation from fans…

Commanding strong interaction from your fans online will lead to a strong following. It means fans become more involved online and have more opportunity to come across the organizations advertisements, sales and promotions. This drive sales, attendance, and television ratings.

3. Increase online sales (tickets, and merchandise)…

The Hamilton Tiger Cats do a few things online in order to increase sales. They promote special events in order to increase the sales of merchandise; for example the 2012 cheerleader calendar. They display their new reformatted jersey’s all over Facebook. They also promote and create buzz for upcoming games. This includes their home opener (June 29th), Labour day classic and all others hosted games during their regular season.

“…If you can’t make the party you’ll be able to purchase your copy of the calendar in-stadium at the home opener on June 29…”

“…don’t forget about Tuesday’s event at Lime Ridge Mall featuring the new jerseys…”

“It’s GAMEDAY!”………. “Tickets are still available at Ticats.ca!”

SMART

The above can be broken down into specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time able objectives. Increase the number of followers on Twitter and Facebook by 13% before the end of the season. Increase the average number of participants using polls, and contest by 15% before the end of season. And increase online revenue by 10%. When these goals are achieved new ones will take their place. Growth and sustainability are the keys to success in any business. It’s a big year for the Hamilton Tiger Cats, the last of the old Ivor Wynne. So be a fan, support the team, do your part, and help the Ti-Cats achieve success, both online and off.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats Web 2.0…

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats like any other organization today have realized the importance of having a presence online. In order to advertise, promote and connect with today’s target audience they have drafted social media into the organization. They primarily use Twitter and Facebook to interact but they do have a very small presence in Tumblr and Pinterest as well.

1. Twitter

The Hamilton Tiger Cats have created two separate twitter accounts for their organization (this does not include the players, coaches, or the cheer leaders’ personal accounts). Between these two accounts they have generated 11,755 followers, (355 of them actively following), and a total of 6, 031 tweets. The Hamilton Tiger Cats are quite active on this platform tweeting between 10-20 times daily.

@TiCatsPR: This twitter account is run by Scott McNaughton who works for the organization as the Director of Communications. This account simply provides “Information about the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from the team’s Director of Communications”.

@TiCats: This is “The official twitter feed of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats..”. This twitter feed is much more interactive. It promotes and builds anticipation for the upcoming season by announcing upcoming games. They interact with fans by allowing them to vote on things like; ‘who the best Hamilton Quarter Back of all time was’, or ‘who the best player of the game was’.

2. Facebook

The Hamilton Tiger Cats use Facebook in sort of the same ways they use twitter. It is another online forum used to discuss and promote upcoming events such as preseason games, home openers, or Ti-Cat cheerleader launch parties (highly recommend going to that one, June 27th, 7:00 at Jack Astor’s Eastgate Square). They host Q&A’s with members of the team, most recently with their star Quarter Back, Henry Burris and they post incredible highlights from previous games. I’m going to list a few more things you will find on their Facebook page before I move on, but make sure to visit it for yourself in order to get involved with this local franchise.

Reactions…

The community’ reaction to this online presence has been positive. People are interacting, they are leaving feedback and they seem to enjoy getting involved in the players lives. I have noticed during my research that the fans are communicating with both the organization itself and other fans. Each article generates approximately 10-80 comments, and the Ti-Cats seem to enjoy the attention. When questions are directed towards the team they kindly answer and state…..”Hamilton Tiger-Cats: Great questions everyone! Keep ’em coming!”

Social Strengths? Social Weakness?

Now the Hamilton Tiger Cats are not a small organization compared to other local businesses.This means their accounts are being managed by professionals. This I am not. So it’s hard for me to pass judgement. Their online presence is strong, pictures are vivid, their coverage is thorough (everything from training camp details, drafts, community events and games), and they post daily. I like that their Tweets, and Posts link back to the webpage allowing their network to come full circle. As long as the Ti-Cats continue to post content that interests their fans, and content that will promote their events (ie: Black and Gold Day), the online followers will continue to grow. More followers, means more fans, more fans means more viewers, more seats filled and more money they can invest into the franchise….Touchdown!

“The most successful marketer becomes part of the lives of their followers. They follow back. They wish happy birthday. They handle problems their customers have with products or service. They grow their businesses and brands by involving themselves in their own communities.” Marsha Collier, speaker and business author

Oskee-Wee Wee…

Hamilton Tiger Cats have been a part of our city longer than most of us have been alive. Those that have grown up in the ‘Hammer’ have fond memories of watching games like the Labour Day Classic at Ivor Wynne stadium. You may have had the privilege of seeing them capturing the Grey Cup back in 99′. Since being founded in the 1950’s the Hamilton Ti-Cats have become an intricate part in the history of Canadian Football. Having won 21 Eastern regular season championships and having captured 8 Grey Cup victories over the last 62 years they have made their presence in Hamilton hard to ignore.

Oskee-Wa Wa…

The primary goal for any athlete or professional athletic organization has always been to win. The players must outplay, and the coaches must out coach the competition in order to achieve success. The objective is no different for the Ti-cats, but that isn’t always their only goal. The fans (their customers) want to be engaged. They want to see a show. They want excitement. Hard hitting, fast paced football is what it’s about. Watching the Hamilton Tiger-Cats tear up the field against rivals like theToronto Argonauts or the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is what attracts fans and is what keeps this organization alive.

Holy Mackinaw…

Hamilton is a diverse community and because the fans are the heart of the Ti-Cats franchise their personalities add to the character of the organization. Steel town. We are a tough, gritty, diverse, and hard-working city and I think the Ti-Cats reflect that within their own personality. The majority of the fans consist of working class males between the ages of 20-45 but it is not uncommon to see women, children, and seniors cheering on the ‘Cats’ from the sidelines or to find them watching the game from the comfort of their home.

Tiger Cats…

A few factors differentiate the Hamilton Tiger Cats from their competitors. The Gold, Black and White uniforms are easily recognized. The famous chant from Pigskin Petecan only be heard echoing throughout our stadium. The history they’ve created here in Hamilton is rich and impressive but more importantly the connections they’ve created with community are unparalleled. The Hamilton Tiger Cats partner with charitable organizations such as the United Way, City Kids, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. The close proximity they share with their rival; the Toronto Argonauts is also distinct because this is doesn’t exist elsewhere in the CFL. It makes for the most intense and competitive rivalry in the league.

Eat ’em raw!

So, what are the goals for this years Hamilton Tiger Cats? Making the playoffs and winning their 9th Grey Cup victory is at the top of the list. Finishing up a successful last season before rebuilding Ivor Wynnestadium will be monumental as well. The Hamilton Tiger Cats will want the stadium filled and the television ratings high in their final season. With the rebuild of a stadium I expect a rebuild of fans. Marketing efforts will be pushed in order to establish a new, young, and faithful audience. Social media has become a large part of their marketing effort, and will play a major role in their over all strategy. With pre-season beginning it’s finally time to take out your favourite jersey and practise your chant. Make it down to Ivor Wynne for their final season! Hope to see you there.

Tools…

Since the beginning of time we as humans have always thrived on our abiltity to create tools that build and monitor progression. We have the stop watch for runners, radar guns for ptichers, gages for veichles and now Klout for social media.

Based on the brief but exciting debate held here tonight during our class I ‘ve come to the conclusion that it makes sense to have a tool that gages our presence in the social media world. Klout seems like a great way to track performance, progress, and to review your current online standings. You can use it as a motivational tool to encourage further engagement, or you can use it as a tool to monitor the specific aspects of your own social media activity.

Try not to look at it as the only thing of significance when montioring your influence though. Instead, try and set goals, use it too monitor progress and continue to publish exciting and informative information that relates to your audience. Now although I am probably the furthest thing from an expert when it comes to using these tools, I do know we as humans owe much of our success on our ability to create them.

“You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (PR). You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales). Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free.”–David Meerman Scott, Best-Selling Author & Speaker